Rangers: 'Steven Gerrard has done fabulous job but is not ready for Liverpool'
- Published
Steven Gerrard is still a way off becoming Liverpool manager - but I doubt he will be bothered by that because he is in the best position he could ever be in as a manager at Rangers.
He has done everything right so far and has been well backed by the board, which is all you ever want.
Everyone knows that, at Rangers and Celtic, you have to win every week and he has dealt with that pressure very well.
Steven is someone who is hugely impressive when you meet him and it must be brilliant to play for him. Some people said taking the Rangers job was a risk, but I think it was only a limited risk.
As a manager going into a new club, he would have asked for certain assurances and it appears he has had good support from the club to bring his own players in.
I can understand why some people in England would look at Steven's time at Rangers and say he only has to beat Celtic, who have been a shadow of their former selves this season.
But I think with the results in Europe - reaching the last-16 of the Europa League in consecutive seasons - should also make people sit up and take note.
I think he has been helped by Brendan Rodgers too, in that he came back down after winning with Celtic and has made a big impact with Leicester City.
As a manager, it comes down to the fundamentals of how you handle modern players - and your recruitment. You can see Steven's talent for that when you look at how he has dealt with Alfredo Morelos.
The striker looked like he wanted to leave Rangers and Steven and the club have dealt with it brilliantly and got him playing well again.
If you ask someone like Curtis Jones at Liverpool, he will say that Steven had a massive impact on him while coaching the under-19s. He gave him a lot of tough love.
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'Managing Liverpool a step up'
There has always been the issue of whether Steven will manage Liverpool or not. Due to Liverpool's poor season, everyone is saying 'Steven will be next, Steven will be next', so that shout has grown louder.
What I would say is that, for all the success at Rangers, managing Liverpool is on a different spectrum. It would be a massive step. It would be a big gamble for the club's owners - Fenway Sports Group - to appoint him.
I think the one-eyed Liverpool fan would be saying 'Get Stevie G in' if Jurgen Klopp were to leave, but I think others would take a step back and go: 'he's done an absolutely fabulous job at Rangers, he was a great player, but maybe he would need to take another job in the Premier League first'.
I also don't see Klopp going anywhere. He has been as close to Bill Shankly as the club have ever had, he won't be losing his job anytime soon.
The trouble for Steven then is that other managers who have moved on from their first job as a stepping stone to something bigger end up not having the same success, so he has to be very, very careful.
He'll already be thinking about winning the Premiership again next season and the chance for a shot in the Champions League with Rangers will be at the forefront of his thinking too.
But, in the unlikely event that Liverpool come calling this summer, Steven could not say no. Because you won't get asked twice.
Mark Lawrenson was speaking to BBC Sport's Scott Mullen.
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